China's Gas Output in January-February Grows
China’s cumulative natural gas production during January-February was 26.19bn m3, a year on year increase of 4.9%, country’s statistics bureau said March 14.
The trend of increasing output has continued into 2018 from 2017. Chinese explorers ramped up production as domestic gas demand surged last year because government, in an effort to control air pollution, pushed households and industries to switch from coal to natural gas. For full year 2017, China's natural gas production was 147.42bn m³, up 8.5% year on year, according to statistics bureau data.
Strong demand has not only resulted in higher domestic output, but gas imports have also seen sharp surge. China imported 6.94mn metric tons of natural gas in February 2018, up almost 41% year on year, according to data published March 8 by China’s customs department. China’s gas imports have been trending higher since the start of 2017. During full year 2017, Chinese gas imports totalled 68.57mn mt, up 27% year on year.